More Than A Manny: Gay Romance Read online

  Ricky looked around then took him straight to the library. Nate approved of Ricky's sense of priority. He had noticed the big library but put off exploring it. He was afraid he would get stuck there.

  The double doors stood open, and Nate couldn't help but smile as he walked in. He inhaled the smell of books and took in the sight of the shelves stretching from floor to ceiling. As expected, there was a sliding ladder for the highest shelves, but it was secured with a sort of gate so the kids couldn't climb it.

  The first thing Ricky showed him was the complicated lighting system controlled from the wall, with buttons on the bookshelves themselves or with a remote. Nate pictured himself coming in with a flashlight, just in case. For now the tall windows let in plenty of light. The carpet was plush with a black and beige pattern of swirls. In the center of the room were two big, comfy looking brown leather sofas. They were set back to back with a tall table between them holding two lamps. There were two big desks facing each other by the windows. In each of the corners of the big room, there was a different oversized armchair with its own lamp. Unconsciously, Nate picked out the one upholstered in dark green felt with an intricate, modern, brass lamp behind it. But, realistically, he was probably going to get more use out of the desks.

  "I'm only allowed to take books from this shelf and this shelf," Ricky said pointing at the bottom shelf and the next shelf but only along one wall.

  Nate saw that the bottom shelf held children's books. He saw Pinocchio, The Boxcar Children series, Tom's Midnight Garden, The Tiger Who Came to Tea among others. The other shelf had books on nature and geography but nothing too serious.

  "Those look like good ones," Nate told him.

  "I've read lots of them. But sometimes Georgie doesn't let me read," Ricky said.

  "She just wants to play."

  Ricky sighed, and Nate laughed at him.

  "Is there a card catalog?" Nate asked him, expecting an old fashioned one might be tucked away somewhere. "A way to find books," Nate explained when he saw that Ricky didn't know what he meant.

  "This thing?" Ricky asked and opened a sliding compartment where only the monitor and keyboard were visible.

  "It's the coffee all over again," Nate said. He looked up some books just to get an idea of what he could expect to find here. He found some things of interest, but decided to pull them off the shelves later.

  "No, no, no," Brent said from the door just as Nate decided to move on with the tour of the house. "Who let you in here?" Then seeing that Ricky took this to heart, Brent told him, "I was just kidding. You're not in trouble."

  "You're always kidding," Ricky said, pouting.

  "But don't you see? Now we'll never get him out of here." Brent pointed at Nate.

  "I'm dragging a bed in here and never leaving," Nate confirmed. That wasn't far from the truth.

  Ricky looked like he thought that was a reasonable idea so Nate winked at him to let him know he was joking. Ricky rolled his eyes seeing that he was stuck with two adults who liked to kid around. He left them to it with a huff.

  "That kid is priceless," Brent said after Ricky was gone.

  "What's with everything in this house being hidden away?" Nate asked and pointed at the computer. Then he realized that his tour guide was gone. "Looks like you chased away Ricky. Now you'll have to show me around."

  "You know how to hurt a guy," Brent said with a smirk. "But my tour doesn't start in the library," he informed Nate and then put his arm around him. He led him to a sunny sitting room, through a set of glass doors and outside.

  "This is where my tour starts and ends," Brent announced.

  Brent had led him to the pool. There was a large, tiled space with wood lounge chairs and sun umbrellas, folded for now. A fence surrounded the pool area. The fence was attractive but obviously not there to be decorative. Brent had to key in a code to unlock the gate. Stepping through, Nate noticed that the tile pattern was textured, maybe to prevent slipping. Beyond the fence, tropical plants gave complete privacy. The pool had a black and white mosaic along its edge. The weather wasn't warm enough, but the pool was still inviting as the water undulated gently.

  "And to think that last year it wasn't even here," Brent said. Then he elaborated. "The pool came with the house, but Greta had it filled in."

  "Seriously?"

  "She was afraid of water. The way my parents died horrified her. They drowned. Even plane trips overseas were a nightmare for her. That's one reason she couldn't be with Ricky's father more. And after he crashed his plane into the ocean, she got even worse. She traveled all the time for business anyway. She would just knock herself out either with sleeping pills or tranquilizers." Brent pointed at the pool. "There used to be a flowerbed and a bench right there. I think it was almost like a memorial to her late husband. She sometimes sat there, more often after she got sick." Brent stared at the surface of the water like he could see her there. "Last year, I had it excavated so the kids could swim."

  "Did it upset Ricky?" Nate wanted to know.

  "Oh, no. He didn't even know a pool used to be there, or why it was filled in. He likes to swim, though Pam and I had to teach him. Greta never let him near a pool. And Georgie is a like a little fish."

  "No wonder she loves the Little Mermaid," Nate said.

  "Hope you have a swimsuit," Brent told him. The change of subject was marked by a roaming look over Nate's body. "Actually, I hope you don't. But in that case, you'll have to do your swimming after hours."

  "Like an adult swim?" Nate said to bait him.

  "Exactly what I was thinking."

  "Is the pool heated?" Nate asked.

  "Of course."

  "I'll get the kids, and we can all jump in."

  Brent sighed. Poor boy, he would have to confine himself to indecent thoughts and not actions, and Nate would too. He wondered if Brent realized that they were in the same boat, that when Nate denied Brent, he was denying himself.

  Nate got into his swim trunks and had the kids ready for the pool. The kids jumped in right away while Nate waited for Brent, maybe a little too eagerly. Brent showed up wearing a striped robe. Nate waited expecting Brent to make a show of taking it off, but Brent kept it on as he settled into a lounge chair. Nate glared at him.

  Noticing her father, Georgie urged him to join them. Ricky looked at him expectantly as if silently conveying the same message.

  "Should I?" Brent asked Nate.

  Nate turned away from him and jumped in the pool. The kids got splashed so they screamed and splashed at him in retaliation. Another big splash followed. Brent had joined them. There was more retaliation for that. Soon there wouldn't be any water left in the pool. Once things calmed down, Nate could take a good look at Brent. He was beautiful from head to toe. His wet skin stretched over long limbs and perfectly built muscles. His back rippled as he played with Ricky and Georgie. Nate told himself to stop ogling him, but that message didn't get through for a few minutes. Though he couldn't stop, looking wasn't enough. Nate wanted to trace the outline of each muscle, feel it under his hand, his tongue. Just as Nate was firmly dismissing those kinds of thoughts, Brent turned to him and gave him a burning look. That look, more than his body, took Nate's breath away. Whatever it was that attracted him to Brent so strongly, it wasn't just physical.

  They had their lunch poolside. Brent had gotten a phone call and left them so he could talk. Once they were done with eating and clean up, Nate and the kids got changed and went roaming through the grounds. As they passed the guesthouse, Nate noticed that on one side it had its own fenced-in garden.

  "Quin put the fence around so the animals wouldn't eat John's vegetables," Ricky said when he saw Nate looking that way.

  "Vegetables are yucky," Georgie said.

  "If they were yucky, they wouldn't need a fence," Nate told her.

  She didn't follow his reasoning.

  "We're not allowed to go to the little house without being invited," Ricky said when they got close to the guesthouse.
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  "Like vampires?" Nate said.

  "Vampires?" Ricky asked.

  "Vampires can only go in when they're invited," Nate told him.

  "Vampires aren't real," Ricky said like he was a little worried that they might be.

  "That's right. Thanks for reminding me," Nate told him. "Let's go see if those guys will invite us in."

  At the door, John made a show of hesitating for a while but then allowed them inside after warning the kids not to touch anything. When they walked in, Quin repeated the warning mainly for Georgie's sake.

  Nate had been curious about the guesthouse because it was where John and Quin made their home. Unlike the main house, this was a more human-sized space. It seemed just right for two people. Nate noticed all the photos of Quin and John together. As he looked at them, he felt pretty jealous of them as a couple and of the life they had together. Good thing Georgie had to be restrained as she tried to grab whatever was within reach. As Nate held her, he asked her about the pictures. She seemed to know many of the people in them, mostly Quin's family and Quin and John's friends. There were no pictures of John's family. Keeping himself out of trouble, Ricky stared at a picture of John as a young teenager with a really big dog next to him. A picture of Quin at around the same age in a karate outfit held Ricky's attention too. Quin and John had been a lot alike then, skinny, wide-eyed, and a little awkward-looking, but they had turned out very differently. And then years later those two skinny boys found each other and recognized they were meant to be together.

  Aside from the many personal touches, pictures and things that must have been mementos, the decor was subdued and tasteful. Textured upholstery in beige and brown covered the couch and a large and comfortable but still stylish armchair. The rest of the furniture was similar to what was at the main house except for an old style recliner, which seemed out of place.

  "That thing has astronomical sentimental value," John said to explain its presence.

  Quin provided the real explanation.

  "It was my dad's. My mom kept it for years after he died. Then one day she decided it was time for it to go to the curb. I wasn't letting that happen. I sat down in it, and I said, 'If it goes, I go. It's Dad's. You can't throw it out like trash.' My mom said as kindly as she could, 'Honey, he doesn't need it any more.' But I wasn't budging. So she told me, 'OK. It's yours now'. And now where I go, it goes."

  John made a "What did I tell you" face, then he said, "I did make him get it reupholstered. This is what it looked like when he brought it in here." John showed him the picture on his phone. The recliner was patched and sad looking. The curb was too good for it.

  "The original La-Z-boy," Quin said as he sat in it.

  "Possibly the first one they ever made judging by that picture," Nate said.

  "Could be." Quin nodded as he patted the armrest fondly. "Hey, check this out." He pulled the lever to make it recline. It did so with a creak and a thud. "Still works."

  "We're not allowed to sit in it and play with it and break it," Ricky said.

  Reminded of the rule, Georgie immediately decided to break it. The little rule-breaker climbed over Quin's raised legs to recline on top of him.

  "It's comfy," she declared.

  "You're crushing me, girl. What've you been eating?" Quin said. He pretended that she was heavy and he couldn't lift her off, and Ricky laughed.

  Nate smiled, but he had felt a pang at hearing Quin talking about his father's old recliner. His own father's things had become precious to Nate even before he died. When his father had to leave their home because of his drinking, Nate would look for all the insignificant things his father had left behind. Those things told him that his father was coming back. They lied. After his father died, Nate both hated and treasured the things his father had touched.

  While Nate was lost in thought, John took the kids to the kitchen so they could help him get lemonade. That left Nate alone with Quin.

  "How did your father die?" Nate asked.

  "A big car crash. It was on the news. My sister and I were helping my mom with dinner. The TV was on. We heard about this big pileup on the interstate, people killed, and we didn't think it had anything to do with us, just some stuff on the news."

  Nate nodded. His father's death as an innocent bystander shot during a robbery must have been news too, but Nate never saw or heard it. His mother didn't allow the news on TV or a newspaper in the house at that sad time.

  Nate realized that he was just standing there while Quin stared at him.

  "You too, huh?" Quin said.

  Nate gave him a sad smile of understanding, but he couldn't speak up. Sometimes grief could renew itself so suddenly. Good thing the kids came back in with John at the end of his patience with them. As he brought in a tray with the glass pitcher of lemonade and glasses, Georgie asked him to let her carry it.

  While they drank and Georgie demanded more sugar, Nate wondered where Brent was. It was weird to miss him so soon, but it was just an honest feeling. Nate liked to have him around, to be able to look at him, to hear his voice and his laugh. And anyway, in Nate's experience, it didn't do much good to put a lid on your feelings. They would just spill over anyway. And considering how strong they were, it would have to be a big, heavy lid to hold those feelings down.

  At the pool, Nate had been a delicious sight. They really did have to have that adult swim so Brent could kiss every inch of his olive skin. He wanted to feel those muscular arms encircle him and press him against that toned chest. He wanted to wrap himself around those legs. And to think that Nate wore those totally unsexy, yellow swim trunks. Brent had to stop himself from thinking about taking them off Nate and throwing them into the bushes. If that's what they made him think of, maybe they were sexy after all. Nate could wear anything and never stop being fuckable for one second.

  They exchanged quite a few looks while they played in the pool when not getting a face-full of pool water from the kids. Again Brent noticed how taking care of them was second nature to Nate. While letting them have fun, he kept a close eye on them. He wasn't a worrier like Pam, who was just like John in some ways. That's why the two of them got along so well. Nate was different. He seemed completely at ease letting the kids get crazy as long as they didn't do anything dangerous. Georgie's antics didn't faze him, and that's saying something. Ricky looked to him for reassurance, which he got because Nate was always calm and took charge without restraining them too much. Nate accepted the kids for who they were. He didn't try to make them like him. They just did. Brent had to grit his teeth so he wouldn't make some kind of insane declaration like "You have to stay with us forever!"

  He really did have to be careful with his feelings. Brent realized that he probably didn't know how to handle them because he had never experienced this kind of attraction before. Unlike every other time before now, this time he was attracted to the man not just his body. Nate could just look at him, and it would bring out the most intense feelings in him. It was just a matter of time before Brent did or said something stupid under the influence of those eyes.

  To clear his head, Brent went for a drive after lunch. The whole time all he could think about was going back. When he couldn't stand it any more, Brent turned around. He stopped at the Asian market and deli where they had the spring rolls Ricky liked. Loaded down with too much food, he came back to the house filled with noise. Nate and the kids were having a paper airplane, aerial battle. The airplanes were thrown from the loft to try and hit each other, which they almost never did. The foyer was covered with them. Brent was greeted with cheers and airplane attacks. One hit his ear.

  "I told you not to aim for the face," Nate told the kids as they all came down the stairs.

  "That was your plane," Ricky told him.

  "That's my eagle eyed boy," Brent said. "Got your spring rolls."

  They invited John and Quin, but they had plans to meet some friends for dinner. Brent didn't mind having Nate and the kids to himself. It felt very nuclear. Ricky was det
ermined to learn how to eat with chopsticks. Georgie tried to eat everything with her hands.

  "Georgie, sauce is not for wearing," Nate told her. By making a game of it, he got her to improve her aim and use utensils a little.

  Georgie's reward was Adventure Time on the big TV. Ricky was ready to climb right through the screen and join in. To Georgie, the show's number one selling point was the princesses. There were lots of them.

  "I consider Princess Bubblegum a good role model," Nate said after they put the kids to bed late.

  "Did you just say that with a straight face?" Brent asked him.

  "Yes, I did."

  Brent caught himself gazing at Nate, unconsciously tracing the outline of that full mouth. He could do that with his tongue. He watched Nate's mouth curve into a smile. Looking up from his lips, Brent found the warmest eyes he had ever seen. But when he asked Nate to join him in his room, he said no.

  "I start working at Miss Pullman's tomorrow, and I need to catch up on some reading."

  Brent caught his hand, not wanting to let him leave. Nate let him hold on, even squeezed his hand lightly.

  "None of those sound like a good reason to reject me," Brent said. He tried to pull Nate closer, but Nate's arm turned to steel. His expression was sweet though.

  "You're not being rejected. You're being postponed," Nate told him and smiled.

  "That only raises my expectations," Brent warned him.

  "Mine too," Nate said and gave him a sexy grin and an even sexier look before going to his room.

  Another close call and all Brent was left with was his erection, his heavy breathing and his loudly beating heart. There was a message in that. Brent was sure of it. Nate was interested, but he needed him to ease off. Too much time together, too soon, and he would get sick of Brent. Brent had never been one to deny himself, but then he had never wanted anything as much as he wanted to be with Nate. He was the first man Brent had ever wanted to hold on to, and he didn't know how. He only knew he had to make it happen.

  Chapter 7